Will Forte has found a new forte

Will Forte is not easily intimidated. He spent ten years performing without a net on “Saturday Night Live” and another couple of seasons playing Jane Krakowski’s transsexual boyfriend on “30 Rock.”

But when it came time for Forte to audition for a role in “Nebraska,” he nearly blew off the meeting with director Alexander Payne because he was so convinced he’d never get the high-profile job.

Who can blame Forte? Payne (“Sideways,”“About Schmidt” and “The Descendents”) is the type of filmmaker whose movies garner acclaim and Academy Award nominations. Payne can, essentially, hire any actor in Hollywood. But after seeing Forte’s audition tape, the director asked the actor to stop by for an interview.

And that’s when Forte got cold feet. “Auditioning is not something that I’m comfortable with so I thought what is the point of going through all of that dread and pressure if I’m not going to even get the part,” recalled Forte.

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“I called up my agent and she had to actually talk me into going in. She said, ‘you’re being crazy. Suck it up.’ So I did and I am so happy I did.”

After reading three scenes for Payne, Forte nabbed the role, which marks the first times he’s starred in a drama. Shot in black and white, “Nebraska” (opening Friday) pivots on the father/son relationship between an aging Montana alcoholic (Bruce Dern) and his good-natured son (Forte).

The action begins when the deluded Dern becomes convinced he’s won $1 million in a scam sweepstakes. Since he doesn’t trust the outfit to deliver the cash to him, he talks his son into driving him from Billings, Montana, to his hometown of Lincoln, Nebraska, to collect the prize.

Along the way, Dern and Forte run into a handful of ex-flames, friends, foes and family members, including Dern’s wife (June Squibb).

As excited as he was about landing the coveted role, Forte showed up for work nervous about his ability to tamp down his comedy instincts and deliver the dramatic goods.

“When Alexander called me up to tell me that I’d gotten the part, it was the most exciting phone call of all time,” said Forte. “But between the time of that phone call and when we started shooting, I did a number on myself. I tend to overthink everything, and I made myself a bundle of nerves.”

A week-long rehearsal set up by Payne helped ease Forte’s anxiety. By the time the production began, Forte was ready to go toe-to-toe with Dern.

“At first, to make sure I wasn’t being too big or sketch-comedy-like, I underplayed it too much,” recalled Forte. “Alexander was very good at guiding me along and getting me to that perfect zone.

“It’s funny because I’m so used to doing comedy. And I’ve done some really embarrassing things. But this was by far the most vulnerable I’ve ever felt because you feel like you’re giving away your personal secrets, and people can see what you’re actually like behind closed doors.”

From the first time Forte read the script, he strongly identified with his character, a man who begins the road trip feeling slightly annoyed at his Dad and then slowly but surely begins to wake up to the possibilities of life.

“My guy is someone who has a good heart and, generally, the best intentions but doesn’t always live up to those intentions,” said Forte. “He’s a warm human being, just trying to do the right thing.

“I think at the beginning of the movie he’s stuck. He has a strained relationship with his Dad. The closer he gets to his Dad, the more he seems to get unstuck in his life.”

Unlike the character he plays in “Nebraska,” Forte is incredibly close to his parents. His mother made an appearance on a Mother’s Day episode of “Saturday Night Live” and she’s visited every single film set he’s worked on, including “Nebraska.”

“Even though my family is nothing like this family, I could relate to them,” said Forte. At the heart of the movie is a message “about the importance of family.”

For Forte, a highlight of the “Nebraska” shoot was sparring with the 76-year-old Bruce Dern, who netted a Cannes Best Actor prize for his work in the film.

“I respect Bruce so much and immediately he put me at ease,” said Forte. “He was such a good friend and teacher to me during the whole process. The relationship we had onscreen is almost identical to what happened offscreen.

“We got really close. And getting to see him give that performance with my own two eyes is something I’ll never forget.”

It was Dern who advised Forte not to worry so much. “Bruce said, ‘just be honest in the scene.’ It sounds like actor mumbo jumbo but it really started making sense to me. I needed to just be in the moment and if you’re overthinking it too much, you’re not in the moment.

“So I tried to play it very real and react to the other actors realistically. Once I got comfortable and relaxed, it felt easier to do my job.”

Growing up in Northern California, Forte never imagined he’d pursue a career in show business. He graduated from UCLA with a degree in history and planned to become a financial broker like his father.

But then Forte went to work at a brokerage house for a year and almost instantly understood that pushing a pencil wasn’t for him.

“It was a horrible experience in that I knew it wasn’t the right thing for me,” he recalled. “But there were some nice people I got to work with so it wasn’t that horrible. But it was tough waking up every morning with that heaviness.”

As soon as Forte joined the improv comedy group the Groundlings, he felt renewed.

“I understood it was the right thing for me even if I never found any degree of success doing it,” said the actor. “When I was in the theater and up on that stage, it just made me feel so good. I knew it was my thing.”

Not long afterwards, Forte became a staff writer on a number of series including “Late Show With David Letterman,”“3rd Rock From The Sun” and “That ‘70s Show.”

In 2002, he joined “Saturday Night Live” where he remained for 10 years. He’s also appeared in the movies “MacGruber,”“A Good Old Fashioned Orgy,”“Tim and Eric’s Billion Dollar Movie,”“Rock of Ages,”“That’s My Boy” and “The Watch.”

At the moment, Forte is writing the pilot for “The Last Man on Earth,” a series he’s developing for Fox. “I’m not going to give any spoilers,” said Forte with a laugh. “But I will tell you this: he’s not really the last man on earth.”

Oddly enough, even though Forte claims he wasn’t looking to switch gears, he has another drama in the pipeline. In “Run and Jump,” he plays a physician living in Ireland who falls in love with the wife of a stroke victim. Also still to come from Forte is “She’s Funny That Way,” the first film from Peter Bogdanovich in 13 years.

“I still love comedy but now I’d like to try a little of everything,” said Forte. “I’m excited to try a bunch of different things if somebody lets me.”

About the Author

Amy Longsdorf is a freelance writer who got hooked on movies after catching "The Godfather" on the big screen. She is a weekly contributor to The Mercury's Sunday Living Section writing entertainment features and DVD reviews. She graduated from Cedar Crest College in Allentown with a degree in communications and has written for People Magazine, The New york Daily News, The Toronto Star, Philadelphia Weekly and The Camden Courier Post. She contributed to "Videohound's Groovy Movies:Far Out Films of the Psychedelic Era." Reach the author at movieamy@aol.com
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